Page 44 of Legacy of the Heirs
“You knew my grandmother?” she asked, and the elderly woman chuckled.
“I do not find it a surprise that it is my apothecary you walked into and not one of the finer ones in the square. She mentioned this place, didn’t she?” The woman’s eyes lit up as though recalling a positive memory. Sadira nodded.
“She mentioned it in passing, but not that she knew the owner.” When Sadira asked Caellum about the healers or elderly in Antor, he had listed the apothecaries in the square the next morning, like the woman referenced. When Sadira mentioned this one, he claimed it was used by those wishing to keep their purchases a secret. But Sadira’s grandmother often mourned the herbs she could gather in Antor and claimed Athena’s apothecary was the only place for the most trusted resources.
“Ha!” The woman laughed. “That bitch.” She shook her head as Sadira recoiled, taken aback. “Oh no, dear!” The woman raised her hand. “I mean no offence. Lyra was the closest thing I ever had to a sister; she always kept my secrets, though it was typical of her to take that promise so literally and not even confide in her granddaughter.” The woman’s laughter trailed as her smile faded. “I assume she is gone,” she said softly. Sadira nodded. The woman blinked rapidly before looking back at Sadira. “Which one of you did it?”
Sadira shifted on her feet, opening and closing her mouth.
“Come now, dear. I know about her vision. Which of you did it?”
Hundreds of thoughts rushed through Sadira’s mind. If she knew the vision, did she know the prophecy too? Had she told it to anyone else? What secrets had her grandmother kept for this woman? Sadira glanced at her hands, wondering why Lyra had never revealed the true extent of their relationship before.
“Soren,” Sadira whispered, trying to push away the memory of her family's blood on her hands and their dead bodies lifeless at her feet. The woman hummed before offering her hand to Sadira.
“Athena,” the woman said. “I am Athena.” Sadira politely took her hand and shook it. The woman was elderly but did not appear as old as Sadira expected, given she had been friends with her grandmother. “What can I do for you?”
Sadira was grateful for the change in subject.
“I am travelling to Doltas Island in the morning. I require some supplies for the people, mostly herbs they struggle to grow without my presence, all dried: hibiscus, lavender, sage, and basil.” Sadira handed her the small list, and Athena began pulling bunches from where they hung from the ceiling, the rustling of the dried plants and the outside wind filling the silence.
“You know, you could have just grown and dried these yourself with your abilities,” said Athena, glancing at her from the corner of her eye. She stood on her tiptoes to reach for the dried hibiscus.
“I needed to get out of the castle.” Sadira glanced away. “It was a last-minute decision to travel to Doltas.” Athena hummed in question, so Sadira deflected.
“You said you knew about my grandmother’s vision.” She faced Athena again, who wrapped the order.
“Is there a question to follow that statement?”
“Why did she tell you?” Sadira asked. The woman pushed the paper bag of items across the counter towards Sadira.
“A secret for a secret,” Athena said. When Sadira raised an eyebrow, she continued. “I told Lyra a secret, and she told me one in return. Go on. Ask.” Athena prompted with an encouraging smile.
Sadira chewed her lip and glanced around the room. “What was your secret?”
“Are you going to offer me one in return?” Sadira pursed her lips, thinking of all the secrets she could not divulge. Athena chuckled. “Do not worry, child. I likely know all your secrets.” Sadira frowned, feeling a twinge of irritation that this woman presumed to know her.
“Even the creatures?” Sadira asked, and Athena looked her deadin the eyes.
“Even the creatures,” she said. “I saw their arrival in a vision.”
Sadira tried to maintain her temper as she crossed her arms.
“Youknewpeople would die?” she asked, but guilt immediately washed over Sadira at her hypocrisy. She now realised how the others had felt when Soren revealed they had known the ruling families would die yet did nothing about it.
“That is the misfortune of being a Wiccan gifted with sight,” Athena said, stepping from her stool and heading back to the door from which she emerged. Sadira wished to ask Athena more questions—anything that could answer what Larelle had asked of her, yether questions may not matter if she is dead. Sadira blinked rapidly, stopping her mind from roaming such a path.
“Do you know others? Where are they?” Sadira asked. Athena held the door open and paused.
“You will not find the answers you crave from me. Visit Albyn. There, you will find your answers.”
Sadira had even more questions than before. Albyn sat at the edge of Garridon before the sea and was the closest to Doltas Island. “And take the King with you,” Athena said, looking intently at Sadira, who read between the lines. While Athena could not reveal her visions, she could guide her. Sadira needed Caellum.
“Wait!” Sadira called as Athena turned to close the door. “Your secret to Lyra was that you were a Wiccan. You told her your secret because she told you that all those with a connection to the earth would be killed should Jorah usurp the throne. You wanted her to know that you would be included.” Sadira concluded, realising this woman had hidden in plain sight beneath the nose of Caellum’s father and grandfather before him. A coy smile spread across the woman’s face.
“You owe me one secret, princess.” With the ominous words and the weight of a debt on her shoulders, Sadira was left to take her ingredients and return to the castle.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
